The American Society for Jewish Music (ASJM), which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1908, can trace its roots back to several earlier Jewish Music Societies and associations, first in Europe and then in America. Among the European models were the Kinnor Zion Society (1902-08) in St. Petersburg and the Society for Jewish Folk Music (1902-18), also in St. Petersburg, and elsewhere within the Russian Empire. After the Revolution, members of these groups published their compositions under the imprint of Juwal, Publication Society for Jewish Music (later called Jibneh) with offices in Tel Aviv and Berlin. Predecessors of the ASJM in the United States included Mailamm (Makhon Eretz Yisraeli L'-Mada'ey ha-Musika, 1932-39), founded by Miriam Zunser and some émigré members of the early European groups, and the Jewish Music Forum (1939-63), founded by Abraham Wolf Binder, which in turn became the Jewish Liturgical Society of America (1963-74). In 1974 the latter group was reorganized as the American Society for Jewish Music, Inc., under the direction of its first President, Albert Weisser.

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